Lin Shon Wan

From OLPC

Lin Shon Wan (1779~1885)

Lin Shon Wan was the most famous rags to riches businessman in Korea. It was in the Ching
Dynasty of China. He made a massive fortune by trading between Korea and
China. The King of Korea wanted Lin to be in charge in the poorest county –
Thaichan – as a magistrate. The soil of Thaichan was very poor, and there
were a lot of hillsides. In addition, the weather was cold, and even if
the farmers worked day and night, they couldn’t feed themselves. When Lin
arrived in Thaichan he tried to persuade the farmers to abandon
cultivation. The farmers and landowners were angry. Because of the poor
harvest, the Thaichan people had to make grass mats to earn extra income.
Lin set up lacquer factories and manufactured high quality lacquers. He
thought it was a trading age; people don’t have to make everything they
need, but create what they master. Then people can earn what they want by
trading. Lin taught the landowners to run the business by trading lines to
China and Japan. It is now the age of the Internet. We know the poor need
daily necessities, and it’s not efficient and fair for the poor to raise
the crops on such poor ground. But the people can create the intelligent
properties by computers. The computers are like the factories, and the
Internet replaces the trading net.

---

The homonyms - Tahitian and name Lin Shun Wan,
I transliterated myself; if you really want to quote this you will have to
consult some Koreans. —Kevin Fu